The long-delayed, congressionally mandated Missile Defense Review (MDR) was finally introduced by President Donald Trump at the Pentagon on Jan. 17. It calls for further research and new investment to help guarantee America’s safety for the next several decades to include new laser technologies, using the F-35 as an ICBM killer and potentially putting interceptors in space.

While we salute the intense effort and review by the national security community to evaluate the broader ballistic missile threat, release of the MDR is also a welcome step forward for our commitment to Camp James A. Garfield (formerly Camp Ravenna) that straddles Trumbull and Portage counties. The MDR indicates that the existing three candidate sites for a $5 billion ground-based nuclear interceptor system, including Camp Garfield, remain.

The Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber and more specifically its Eastern Ohio Military Affairs Commission urges Ohio’s congressional delegation and our local and state political leaders to continue advocating for the safety of all Ohioans and everyone else in the eastern U.S., which is facing the potential threat of incoming nuclear missiles from countries like Iran.